TUESDAY ANIMAL KINGDOM

I had never been to the Animal Kingdom before, so I was looking forward to the visit. Wednesday morning we had reservations at the Tusker house for a character breakfast. We had a little entertainment while we waited for our table.

The mickey waffles were a big hit with Jimmy. He scarfed them down - ears first of course.

Heather, Eric and the kids decided to join us. My kids were excited to see Mickey, Goofy and Daisy come right up to them at the table.

During the breakfast they had a little children's parade in the dining room. Jimmy made it around a couple of times,but quickly noticed that people were watching him so he got back in his seat. Jenna however proudly marched around the room without a problem.

After breakfast we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride where the animals walk around freely. We saw gazelles, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, lions and a lot lot more.

This is an African Baobab tree. It is know as the up side down tree or tree of life. The inside of the tree is hollow and is used to store water or food and also is used as a shelter for animals.

Jenna was very excited to see an elephant since our zoo no longer has them.

There was a lot to do including a Dinosaur land which Jimmy loved. We also saw the Bug's life 3D show inside a Tree of Life. Jenevive went on a huge roller coaster called Expedition Everest, which went forward and backwards.

My kids enjoyed their daily Mickey Mouse ice cream and a little rest from the heat. We were planing on going back to the Magic Kingdom that night, but everyone was pooped out. We headed back to the condo for some swimming.

WEDNESDAY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Jimmy and Jenna each had their own spending money which they could spend anyway they wanted, with the exception of the one stuffed animal only policy. Jimmy spent his money on anything with wheels. By the end of the trip he had bought 3 Disney buses, a T-Rex semi truck, a cars play set with multiple cars and a monorail. He was so excited to see the matching bus to his toy, that he wanted a picture of it.

I'm not really sure why they had us put our hands up in the air for the picture.

While we were waiting in line for autographs, they had a bunch of cut outs that you could take pictures with. My poor little Jimmy was strapped to a rocket.

Jimmy was in total awe when he turned the corner and saw them. I had to laugh because Buzz Light Year didn't sign the book, he just used a stamp with his name on it.

There is an amazing Toy story Midway Mania game/ride. It was probably my favorite thing in the whole park. You ride in a cart and get spun around while you play a bunch of 4D carnival games.

So, before I get any calls from CPS, I just have to saw the following: 1) Jimmy wanted to go on the Tower of Terror 2) He was tall enough for the ride and no one even led on that it might not be a good idea for him to go on 3) I didn't remember the ride being so scary 4) Never in a million years did I think they would place us with 2 small kids in the front row 5) Not to worry because neither Jimmy or I will never ever go on that ride again.

I felt soo bad after the first drop and felt even worse with each one after. Poor little Jimmy kept yelling " I do not like this ride" and "I am never going on this ride again". I held onto him for dear life. Jen went on again right after while Jimmy and I got a pretzel and we were very fine with our decision. Later Jen and Jim went on an Aerosmith Rock N Roll roller coaster which went up side down. Jimmy and I again found something better to do:

A $7.00 rub on tattoo. When he picked out the design and I handed over the money I had no idea someone was going to slap on a rub on tattoo. I could have done that for 50 cents back home, but it made my Jim Bobby smile. I still had some Tower of Terror Mommy guilt going on. So what do you do after you've spent $7.oo on a tattoo....

You buy another one. Two kids - two rip offs. They were both proud of them until they wore off in the pool the next day.

Jim took Jimmy over to see Lightning McQueen and Mater and then to an Extreme Stunt Show.

The boys had fun watching how stunts are done for movies.

While the boys were busy, Jen and I walked around the Muppet area and found a little arcade. After, she talked me into getting her face painted like a cat. It turned out very cute!!! By the end of the night she had one whisker, one ear and half of the bow on her face.

Jimmy had passed out in the car as we were leaving Hollywood Studios. We had already made plans to head over to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the night to watch the electric parade. We had wanted him to sleep as long as possible, so Jim being such a good Daddy, carried Jimmy from the car to the boat and into the park. Not an easy task in the nice Florida heat.

We went on a couple of rides and then headed over to take our place on the street for the parade.

I really under estimated how much the kids would like the parade. It is like nothing I've ever seen before. They both danced the whole time and their little faces lit up as bright as the lights.

Prince Charming is Jenna's favorite, and of course she melted when she saw him. It is good to have high standards- she better keep them. After the parade they had fireworks, but we headed over to the back of the park and went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We had the ride all to ourselves since everyone else was watching the fireworks. Jimmy is now addicted to watching that movie at home. We ended up getting out of the ride just in time for the fireworks to end, which was a crazy mess. We took our time and took rode the monorail for awhile. The kids crashed as soon as they got back.

THURSDAY COCOA BEACH

Thursday we took a day off from the parks and drove to Cocoa Beach. The weather was great. It was one of the hottest days we were in Florida, so it was perfect to spend it in the ocean with a breeze.

The kids couldn't get down the deck fast enough. They had been waiting all week to play in the sand and swim in the ocean.

One quick picture before they run into the water.

At first Jimmy didn't want anything to do with the water. He was just fine with sticking his feet in and that was it. It took almost an hour or so for him to go in waist high and actually play in it.

We had been waiting to stick our fat feet into the sand - and it felt just as good as we thought it would.

Pat and Heather had hooked us up with a beach umbrella, cooler and some sand toys. Again we have amazing friends. The kids and Jim built a sand castle before we left. And the kids had one last chance to jump the waves.

Because we weren't totally exhausted from the beach all day, we headed to Downtown Disney for the rest of the night. We had eaten lunch there one day and I'm glad we made it back in the evening, because it's a whole different experience at night. The kids had a blast watching all of the different bands and going in and out of all the shops. We had to take a picture next to Woody made out of Lego's.

And this is a huge dragon in the water made out of Lego's also.

Earlier in the week we had seen the T-Rex restaurant and right away Jimmy had wanted to go inside. We surprised the kids with dinner there and it was awesome. I would recommend it to any one who is planning a trip to Disney.

The restaurant is owned by the same people as the Rainforest Cafe, only this one is much better inside. Each section has it's own theme and the animals go off every 20 minutes. My husband loved it more then the kids I think.

I don't remember what this face was all about, but I had to add it in. Just Jimmy being Jimmy I guess.

We made a visit to the Harley store, and of course get a picture on a bike.

Jimmy was in his glory.

We had to visit the Cirque Du Soleil store and just dream about going to the show one day. We were very close to getting tickets, but I couldn't do it. It would have been almost $400.00 for the four of us. One day , but not that day.

With Halloween right around the corner, everything was decorated over the top. We all really enjoyed Downtown Disney. There was a ton to do and we stayed there until all of the stores were closing.

FRIDAY AT THE CONDO

So due to a very long story about a very large bug, we moved into a two different condos on Friday. Once we finally settled into a new condo, it was too late to go to Universal as planed, so we decided to stay around and take advantage of some of the amenities we hadn't used.

The first day we had checked in, Jimmy had spotted the Thomas train that goes around the property. He had been begging to go on it, but we hadn't seen it again until Friday.

He was thrilled to take a ride and it gave us a chance to see everything they had to do.

The kids and I went on the swan paddle boats for a very short ride. Everything started out great until we were in the middle of the pond and Jen decided she was too tired to paddle anymore. So, I had to paddle myself, two kids and a swan boat back to the deck. I wouldn't have been too bad except I kept catching Jen "resting" her feet on the peddles which added more resistance. Fun- next time Jim will take them.

Jim joined us for a game of cheater put put. Somehow the kids kept getting holes in one. Amazing!!! The course was dinosaur theme so Jimmy liked it a lot. Later that night we ended up getting take out from a restaurant and spending the rest of our last night in the pool.

SATURDAY OUR LAST DAY

I had made our flight a late one so we could stay as long as possible. We met up with all of our friends at the Magic Kingdom for lunch and a few last rides. Poor Luke couldn't hang. All of the kids got along so well and were sad to leave each other.

One last picture before we leave. Our flight was at 6:15 and we didn't leave the park until 4:00. By leaving the park, I mean we still had to take the monorail to the parking lot and take a tram to our spot. Luckily the airport was only 20 minutes a away and the car rental return was very fast. Overall I wouldn't change a thing. At the end of the trip we were totally exhausted and still are a little - almost 2 weeks later, but we weren't sure if we will be able to go back again so we made the best of our time.

The flight home was a whole other story. If I were a flight attendant I would refuse to work any flight going out of Orlando. There were kids screaming the entire flight home. They were screaming because, they wanted a window seat, because they had to go to the bathroom, because the were bored, and they were screaming just because they could. But that was still nothing compared to the awful parents that were there. The dad that was sitting next to Jim kept kicking his daughter and another one put his kid in a head lock and was yelling at her. It was completely nuts. I just looked at Jim and said " I guess the Disney experience is now over".

DISNEY PRINCESSES ON ICE

Jenevive had been asking to go to Disney princesses on ice, but with our trip, there was no way I was going to buy tickets for the show. Her very lucky Aunt JuJu won 4 tickets for Wednesday nights show. We had taken Jen when she was very little, but Lanie had never been before so she had no idea what to expect. They were both very excited to just get dressed up and wear their tiaras.The girls had a blast and were glued to the ice the entire time. It was fun watching Lanie's eyes in such amazement. It was all Lanie talked about the next day, and kept asking when she could go again. Thank you Aunt JuJu for such a fun night!

7 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!!!!!

UPS finally delivered the kid's Mickey ears today. They couldn't wait to bust open the box. Just one step closer to the mouse!!!!!!!